Welcome my fantasy brethren to another edition of The Prognosticator, may it
be your fright night. Congratulations to the World Champion Boston Red Sox. What a series it was. The St. Louis Cardinals have plenty to be proud of, dominant pitching and good hitting will keep them competitive for years to come. Thanks everyone for stopping in, I sincerely appreciate that you did.

Passing

Rushing

Team

Score

Team

Score

DEN

225

MIN

124

NE

223

SEA

109

STL

204

BAL

103

NO

202

SF

102

WAS

199

DEN

99

BAL

198

HOU

98

PIT

194

CAR

98

HOU

192

NYG

96

SF

190

OAK

92

PHI

178

WAS

90

NYG

178

IND

89

DAL

174

PHI

85

IND

173

CIN

84

MIN

161

NE

82

ARI

159

KC

82

CAR

158

NYJ

81

JAX

155

PIT

76

SEA

155

STL

73

MIA

154

TB

71

CLE

153

SD

71

TB

151

MIA

69

SD

145

JAX

67

OAK

135

ARI

65

CIN

130

DAL

65

NYJ

125

NO

59

KC

101

CLE

58

How to read the table: The table shows how a team will do Passing and Rushing in the upcoming week of the NFL. Red is HOT, Yellow is WARM, White is NORMAL, Light Blue is COLD and Dark Blue is FREEZING COLD. Play players from teams that are Red and Yellow, avoid players from teams that are Light or Dark Blue and expect average days from teams that are White.

All times are Eastern

New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers - Thursday 8:25pm

The Bengals will continue to enjoy their rebirth in the air with A.J. Green and Marvin Jones but mistakes will be made too. The Dolphins secondary is adept at picking off passes as Miami knows how to get after the quarterback to force mistakes. Play your Bengals, they'll all play well (especially in PPR leagues) but expect the Dolphins to compete at home. There won't be a lot of fantasy stats for your Dolphins, this will be a special teams, grind it out type of effort from Miami. If you are desperate, stick with the Miami passing game and you'll be fine, Charles Clay makes a decent start as will Brian Hartline but this week, the Dolphins running backs focus on getting the tough short yardage rather than the big gains.

The Bills are very much like the Chiefs in that both teams just know how to run the football. They're both running teams first and their offensive lines are built to run block. Fred Jackson is dinged and has been limited in practice and C.J. Spiller sounds doubtful, so keep a close eye on this situation. If neither can go, Tashard Choice actually makes an interesting play. The Bills starting running back is becoming a valuable fantasy commodity and C.J. Spiller can be had for a song in most leagues. Sing if you are able. The Chiefs win this simply because not only can they run the football but Alex Smith knows how to move the chains. The Bills do not share that same luxury. Start all your Chiefs with confidence.

The Jets are tough to run on so the Saints will just pass, pass, pass their way to victory. This will be more of a game for Lance Moore and Kenny Stills than for the bigger named fantasy players on the Saints. Be warned however, you don't want to start a Saints running back this week unless it's maybe Darren Sproles in a PPR league if you are desperate and even then. Where the Jets match up best against the Saints is when they run the ball and if they can play the Saints like they did the Patriots, by pounding the ball up the gut with Chris Ivory, they will. The big time risk however is that this game gets away from the Jets, like it did last week vs. the Bengals and they abandon the run before it gets started. If you're out of flex options and it's a tough bye week then slide Chris Ivory in but realize we're gambling here.

The surprising part to all of this is how well the Vikings will compete in the air. We know the Cowboys will throw the ball well but the Vikings? Strange days indeed. The Vikings will compete because they will be able to pass at will and run the ball with authority. The Vikings lose because the game is in Dallas and Tony Romo starts to show he is starting to be a quarterback that is able to close out a game, which has been his achilles heel throughout his career.

I had a chance to spend some time in Redskin's country this past weekend. There's nothing like watching a game at a house full of fans who have lived and died with their team for decades. There was an age range from teenagers to a Korean War Vet in his 80's. All lifelong fans of a persecuted team and it was interesting to live their perspective with them. The food was great, the hospitality greater and at the half, up 21-7 on the Broncos, the world couldn't have been brighter. And then the Broncos dropped 38 unanswered on them. Ka-boom. You could tell there was a certain familiarity about the entire situation. Like they were used to it. There was excitement at the half of course but it was very guarded, like they knew there was another shoe and it would drop hard. I was of course jubilant and supportive in my fantasy world, that the Redskins defense held up and only surrendered 7 points to the Broncos over a half was astounding, but they weren't having any of it. It's like they knew what was going to happen next and they were right. It was a quiet second half, there was very little bemoaning, very little blame, just an acceptance that here we go again. There was a great amount of love in the room for Alfred Morris. In Morris they trust. As an outsider looking in I would have expected more RGIII love but no, in that room, it was clearly directed at Alfred Morris and I found that an interesting take at how much they look at him as their savior.

This week the Redskins play a tough Chargers offense that knows how to throw the ball around, which is exactly not what the doctor ordered for the 'skins. It's where they were torn apart last week and quite frankly, may be where they get torn apart again. But the Redskins are about balance and that balance will see them through, unless of course, the Chargers drop 38 on them in the second half.

Category

Advantage

Rushing

Passing

Offense

Interceptions

Fumbles

Turnovers

Favorite: Kansas City Chiefs by 9.5Prediction: Kansas City Chiefs 17 - New York Jets 14

Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys - Sunday 1:00pm

This comes down to the passing game of Atlanta vs. the running game of the Panthers and the Panthers stout defense. In Carolina and owning more of the intangibles, the Panthers will play well in this. The Falcons will be forced into throwing the ball as there will be nothing on the ground for them. Play Harry Douglas.

The Titans are still trying to figure things out, as are the Rams. The Titans are slowly getting their starting quarterback back in game shape and the Rams are not. However, the Rams defense has quietly been playing better and are starting to look like the defense they were predicted to be. Just a little. They will cause problems for the Titans when on offense. For both teams, their ground games are what you pay attention to and you can ignore everything in the air. The problem for the Rams though is that Zac Stacy is dealing with a sprain and has been limited and Daryl Richardson could get the start. For the Titans, they are now talking about a timeshare between Chris Johnson and Shonn Greene. If you've forgotten about Shonn Greene and you have some room on your roster, pick him up as a speculative play. You don't play him this week but he makes a good stash player for now.

I was trying to find just one thing good to say about Tampa Bay and what they will bring to the field this weekend against the mighty Seahawks in Seattle. Aye Carumba. I did find Darrelle Revis. That concludes anything positive I could possibly say. Marshawn Lynch didn't run a lot last week in what should have been a cupcake of a matchup for him and now he's nursing an injury and not practicing? Something went down. Keep your ear to the tracks here as whomever is running the ball for Seattle will put up a monster. Robert Turbin owners unite if the lucky bounce kicks in your direction. Be ready to make the switch if you need to.

It's better for New England that this one is at home. This will be a tough game for the Patriots as the Steelers will be able to take advantage of the severely injury hampered Patriots defense with their offensive balance. They will be able to both run and pass effectively against the Patriots, especially if Aqib Talib remains sidelined. The irony for the Patriots is that they are better off not putting the ball in Brady's hands but rather, run, run, run on the Steelers all day long. The Patriots move too many running backs in and out to make one fantasy relevant but Stevan Ridley makes an interesting spot start this week as the matchup and conditions are just right. If the Patriots error and do what they often do, which is keep the ball in Tom Brady's hands, that will end up back firing on them.

Historically, this has been a hard hitting affair between two units that like to run the ball up the gut. This one will be different in that both teams will be emphasizing their passing games. Don't expect the Ravens to challenge Joe Haden too much which will translate into a down day for Torrey Smith, but they will be dropping back early and often with dink and dunk passing down low to their running backs and tight ends with the occassional bomb down field to Jacoby Jones just to keep the defense honest. Ray Rice and even Dallas Clark will perform well here, especially in a PPR league. The Browns too will lean on their passing game. It's interesting to note that Greg Little has been climbing the Cleveland depth chart and there's a chance we start to hear a little more from him after a very quiet start to the season.

I really do think that no matter how you slice it, the Texans are a good team and at full strength, can still be very dangerous. A healthy Texans team will be very dangerous indeed when they get back to that state. Right now, it looks unlikely that Arian Foster or Ben Tate will play with the multiple running back signings the Texans made this week. Defensively the Texans will be fine, they're a tough bunch, but the offense has sprung just a few too many holes to be truly competitive. Beware of Andrew Luck and particularly T.Y. Hilton this week as the Texans will be bringing their pass rush to the game. This is a good game for Trent Richardson to finally post some solid fantasy numbers.

On paper the Packers blow through the Bears both in the air and on the ground. Fantasy wise, you most definitely want to get in Eddie Lacy, Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson. James Jones is questionable with a knee issue and if he can't go, don't forget about Jarrett Boykin. The Bears however always play the Packers tough and you know what they say, throw out the statistics when it's a division game and in this case, the Bears are one game behind the division leading Packers. Quick! Who has scored more touchdowns this year, the Packers or the Bears? The answer? The Bears with 25, the Packers have 23. The Packers have been hot winning 4 of their last 5 and are going in the right direction. The Bears have lost 3 of their last 5 and are going in the other direction which is trouble for the Bears in this. For those of you unfamiliar with Josh McCown, he can play very, very well in short bursts and will here. He makes a very sneaky spot start for those with bye week problems but I think we'd all rather have Aaron Rodgers at the helm of our team now wouldn't we?